Matheny’s Coach of the Year award tops Elon’s all-league honors

Published: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 01:00 AM.

Elon University’s significant men’s basketball season was rewarded Tuesday in the form of all-league recognition from the Southern Conference.

Matt Matheny was named Coach of the Year by the league’s sports media association while Lucas Troutman and Jack Isenbarger landed all-conference honors.

Elon claimed the league’s North Division title for the first time since 2006 and the second time in its 10-season conference membership.

The Phoenix’s 13 league victories were its most since joining the Southern Conference in 2004. And Elon’s 20 overall victories are the program’s most since 1988, when the school competed on the NAIA level.

Thus, Matheny, in his fourth season at Elon and guaranteed of his first winning record there, earned the Coach of the Year award in the media balloting.

UNC Greensboro coach Wes Miller, who spent a year at Elon as an assistant (in 2008-09), experienced this position last season. His Spartans won the North and he in turn was chosen as Coach of the Year by the media.

“I can relate to being in that situation,” Miller said. “It’s a great accomplishment. It’s a great feeling. And obviously Matt’s done a terrific job at Elon.

Elon University’s significant men’s basketball season was rewarded Tuesday in the form of all-league recognition from the Southern Conference.

Matt Matheny was named Coach of the Year by the league’s sports media association while Lucas Troutman and Jack Isenbarger landed all-conference honors.

Elon claimed the league’s North Division title for the first time since 2006 and the second time in its 10-season conference membership.

The Phoenix’s 13 league victories were its most since joining the Southern Conference in 2004. And Elon’s 20 overall victories are the program’s most since 1988, when the school competed on the NAIA level.

Thus, Matheny, in his fourth season at Elon and guaranteed of his first winning record there, earned the Coach of the Year award in the media balloting.

UNC Greensboro coach Wes Miller, who spent a year at Elon as an assistant (in 2008-09), experienced this position last season. His Spartans won the North and he in turn was chosen as Coach of the Year by the media.

“I can relate to being in that situation,” Miller said. “It’s a great accomplishment. It’s a great feeling. And obviously Matt’s done a terrific job at Elon.

“I know some of the challenges of the job from working there. To look down and see the record they have, to win the North Division in this league, he’s done a tremendous job and I’ve got the utmost respect for him as a coach and for this program.”

Ernie Nestor (in 2005-06) is Elon’s only other Coach of the Year winner in the Southern Conference. He was a unanimous selection by the league’s coaches and media association.

On Tuesday, the coaches chose Davidson’s Bob McKillop — Matheny’s mentor, friend and confidant — as league Coach of the Year in their voting. That marked the ninth such Southern Conference Coach of the Year honor for the veteran McKillop.

Davidson won 17 of its 18 league games and owns the top seed in the league tournament that starts Friday in Asheville.

“If somebody says to me I’m a similar coach to Bob McKillop,” Matheny said last week, before Elon played host to Davidson, “then I’ll take that as a major compliment.”

Elon’s Troutman earned one offive spots on the media’s all-conference first team. The 6-foot-10 junior forward ranked fifth in the league in scoring (15.1 points per game), second in field-goal accuracy (55 percent) and first in blocked shots (2.2 per game).

Isenbarger, a 6-2 junior guard, was a third-team pick by the media. He ranked 13th in the conference in scoring (13.7 points per game) and second in successful 3-pointers (76) and free-throw accuracy (87.1 percent).

In the balloting by the coaches, Troutman and Isenbarger both appeared on the all-league team that consists of 10 players.